Our projects

Each project is an area of law or subject matter that the Law Commission has agreed to review. The Commission works on several projects at a time. Together, these projects make up the Commission's annual work programme.

Use the search filters below to find particular projects. For more information on how we work see how we conduct projects.

The Criminal Procedure (Simplification) project was a joint project between the Ministry of Justice and the Law Commission. It had two objectives: to reduce unnecessary court delays through legislative and operational change, and to create a...

The purpose of this project is to simplify the statutory provisions governing the laying of criminal charges and infringement offences and their progress through the court system to the point of determination, including appeals, so as to remove...

This project addresses the issue of whether in the interests of effective processes of tax assessment there should be a modification (beyond that already contained in the Tax Administration Act 1994 section 20) of the rules protecting from...

In 1997, the Law Commission was approached by the Securities Commission and invited to consider the law relating to retirement villages, as part of a wider project relating to the marketing of undivided interests in land, which would have the...

This is the Commission's second report directly on matters pertaining to New Zealand's international obligations. The purpose of the project is assist members of Parliament and public with both broad background information and focused direction...

By enabling scrutiny of government activities, the Official Information Act 1982 and the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 contribute to public trust and confidence in central and local government. The operating...

This project involves examining the possibility of simplifying the expression and content of the law of judicial review in the Judicature Amendment Act 1972 and Part 7 of the High Court Rules. The focus of this review will be procedural; it will...

Part 8 of the Crimes Act 1961 deals with crimes against the person. The project reviewed the adequacy and coherence of the current offence provisions, considered whether there were any gaps in them and revised maximum penalty levels. The project...